As I write this, I've just bought flights for my January Tropical Yoga Retreat Vacation. And I'm smiling fondly at my woodsy Zoom room above, whence I taught a private last weekend whilst at a delicious 5-day advanced practice NYC Compassionate Communication retreat at Orange Lake, NY.
 So much thriving and energetic renewal flows to me from nature, and from community with shared reality.
Communion with our true self blossoms in such climes. Researcher Brené Brown said it: we humans are hardwired for connection. And like babies that aren't picked up and held, we wither without it. As Meryl Streep tells Kevin Kline (name the film!): loving connections "make me to bloom like a rose."
 When I book one retreat right on the heels of another ~ or while I am still on the other ~ I am pruning my garden of weeds, I am nourishing my soil, I am watering my soul garden! Meeting needs for joy, fun, adventure, play, challenge, creativity, and community. And yes, nurturing. I'm also especially excited to welcome mother-daughter and other family-friend pairings, as community = family = needs met for love, care, connection!
 So ~ trick or treat? I dunno about you, but my life playfully throws me plenty of tricks, so I figure I'd better build in some treats to balance them! Yes, easy treats, like great books, aromatherapy bubble baths, meals with friends, yoga flows. Yes, a volunteer shift, a great TV show, a huge belly laugh. And yes, it can include picking a super fun getaway for oneself, and enjoying the anticipation of it the entire time, before, during, and after!
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 Join me weekly at Pure or Equinox or via Zoom for yoga, or plan to join the yearlong Compassion Course online next June, so we can share ongoing community & growth that way, too!
Weekly Yoga:
Mon~ Slow Flow Meditation 10:30-11:45 Zoom & tapes
Tues~ Regenerative 12-1 Equinox E.85
Tues~ Restorative 1:45-2:45 Equinox E.92
Thur~ YinYang 12-1:15 Pure West
Thur~ Yoga Nidra 1:45-2:45 Pure West
Sat~ Flow & Restore 11-12:15 Pure West
Sun~ Vinyasa 11:45-12:45 Equinox E.54
Upcoming:
Tropical Retreat/Vacation Jan.5-11, 2022 at All-Inclusive
Lifestyle Tropical Resort, Puerto Plata, DR. $250 deposit to book a spot. Family & Friends or free spirits, welcome.
 My schedule is always on MaryAranas.com ~ I do hope to see and play with some of you live sometime, on a retreat vacation; either tropical, or one of our beautiful Catskills weekend retreats at the 100-acre Wagging Tail Yoga Center of owner, hostess, and co-teacher Ora Ramat and me! Next one is Spring 2022 ~ watch for dates here, and on my website once they're set!
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 So much love and appreciation for every single, joyful moment of life, love, learning!
Giving thanks this issue for photos courtesy of: Heifer International, Crossroads Community Services, Lifestyle Holidays, Wagging Tail Yoga, Ora Ramat, Sara Braverman, ReSOULutions Retreats, and the talented adventurer photographer Lyan Lex Bernales.
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Please feel free to Reply, Forward, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe any time!
Boooooo-tiful Fall season to you!
OMMMMmary
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Crossroads Community Services, with whom I packed pantry foods and cooked bulk meals throughout the pandemic, has been doing their work faithfully and joyfully since 1989 for New York City's hungry and needy.
 Operating right from the heart of midtown NYC at St. Bart's Church at 51st Street between Park and Lexington, Crossroads gives out food, care, & kindness, all year round, in all weather. I have loved volunteering, and bringing friends to volunteer. It helped preserve my peace, hope, connection, sanity, trust and joy.
 Friday Nov. 26th, on Fare Share Friday, we will pack and serve Thanksgiving takeout to over 400 NYC neighbors. This annual event is normally a sit-down meal with donors and guests together, but for everyone's health and safety this year, we invite supporters and donors to join us via livestream.
I'm happily rolling up my sleeves on the Fare Share prep crew. I hope you can support us online, and/or via donation. Joy is infectious!
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World Ark: Holiday gifting
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Marianne Williamson, teaching A Course In Miracles:“We are not held back by the love we didn’t receive in the past, but by the love we’re not extending in the present.”
Wow. That's a big eye-opener for me! Got pain? Where am I not extending present love? Oh, it's not received where I extended it? Where else can I extend it? Where can it go? Released! Love given! Freedom. Joy. Check it out. God's arithmetic: a math I can love!
Heifer International's World Ark magazine is like a love gift catalog. Flip its pages to light yourself up with a gift of pure joy for you and another.
Or, go to Heifer's online shop. Sure, give scarves or chocolates to your dear ones. But also maybe give $20 share of a goat, or a $30 gift of honey bees? A flock of chicks? A pack of seeds? A bio-gas stove? What thrills you?
How much joy can you give yourself in our giving ark? Test out those baubles. Shop for joy.
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